The small propeller plane, carrying eight skydivers and its pilot, crashed shortly after 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Thursday, as it was taking off from Örebro airport, 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of Stockholm.
Initially, police had only referred to “multiple” deaths and said that one person had been taken to hospital with serious injuries. The confirmation that all nine had died came late on Thursday night.
According to local media, the plane was a DHC-2 Beaver, which the local skydiving club had rented to use for a summer event.
“Normally, most skydiving is done on the weekends, but they had rented a plane to jump more intensely during the whole week,” Anna Oscarsson, head of communications for the Swedish Skydiving Association, told broadcaster SVT.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in a written statement to the TT newswire: “It is with great grief and dismay that I received the tragic news of the plane crash in Örebro this evening. I am think of the victims, of their family and loved ones in this very tough time.”
In 2019, nine people were also killed when a plane carrying skydivers crashed outside the city of Umea, northeast Sweden.
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